Heading to the Fireplace the Week of Boston Bakes!

Yesterday, I received an incredible email from our good friend Jim Solomon, chef and owner of the Fireplace in Brookline, Massachusetts. Jim’s email gave me the “heads-up” on his dessert, knowing I would want to make a reservation! He was right!

Jim has been a supporter of Boston Bakes for more years than I can remember.  The Fireplace and Jim are all about Americana!   His restaurant is all about embracing the foods of New England, simple and deliciously prepared, homey and comfy. The Fireplace is also a certified green restaurant.

In the early years of Boston Bakes, Jim would serve a wonderful fruit cobbler or crumble to help us raise money for breast cancer research one sweet at a time. In more recent years, Jim has done his research and come up with desserts like A Grilled Cheese Sandwich of Emily Dickenson’s Sweet Black Cake with Herbed Goat Cheese over Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote. It was fantastic!

This year Jim has topped himself! The Fireplace will serve Dr. Zabdiel Boylston’s Honeycomb Pudding with Burnt Lemon Hard Sauce and Whipped Mint Cream. This Colonial dish will get a Fireplace twist of course. The pudding tastes like gingerbread topped with lemon sauce.  As it cooks the baking soda bubbles leaving little holes from which the dish gets its name.

What relevance does this have you might ask?  Who is Dr. Zabdiel Boylston?  This is a history lesson I did not know until Jim’s email to me yesterday!

Born in Brookline in 1679, Dr. Boylston was the great uncle of both President John Adams and philanthropist Ward Nicolas Boylston. Dr. Zabdiel Boylston braved mob violence in 1721 to get Bostonians inoculated against small pox. He also performed the first surgery to remove a breast tumor in 1718.

Jim feels given the recent events of Marathon Monday and Patriots Day, the significance of this Colonial dessert and Dr. Boylston are ever so important.  We could not agree more!

Join us at the Fireplace May 6-12 and enjoy Dr. Boylston’s Honeycomb pudding. We will be there with you! Thank you Jim for your support and originality! You have helped us so much and we look forward to your continued support!